Monthly Archives: October 2013

The Devil is Real and Halloween is His Holiday?

It’s the 21st century, and you would think that educated people were done talking like this, but Richard J. Mouw, a professor at Fuller Theological Seminary in California–a seminary with a reputation for theological liberalism–continues to believe that the Devil … Continue reading

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A 21st Century Carrie

The new Carrie remake looks worth seeing: _________ And below is the original 1976 trailer for Carrie. Carrie the book was Stephen King’s first novel and Carrie the movie gave John Travolta his first screen role. The film’s power lies … Continue reading

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A Pretty Good Reason to Suspect that God Might Exist

If you could have been there when the big bang went bang 13.7 billion years ago, you would likely think that God (if God exists) was pulling your leg if She said to you, “From this explosion I’ll make a … Continue reading

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Free Thought Road or the Orthodox Route?

Wow. I like this Anglo-French Enlightenment inspired cartoon from 1890: __________ Talk about push-back to Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress! “Freethought Road” takes you past a secular schoolhouse and Investigation, Reason, Education, Humanity, Justice, Science, Virtue, Love, and Liberty, with “Truth” shining … Continue reading

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Metaphor Generators: Douglas Hofstadter and Shakespeare

I’ve been reading Douglas Hofstadter’s new book, Surfaces and Essences, in which he posits an analogy model for what human intelligence ultimately is, and I notice that the new November edition of The Atlantic has a profile piece on Hofstadter, a … Continue reading

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Leonardo’s Vitruvian Man Goes Machine

Cue the cyborgs:

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Why Nietzschean Nihilism Will (Probably) Not Be the Human Future if Religion Dies

Temperament. A pretty good reason to think that the world won’t collapse into dog-eat-dog nihilism should religion die has to do with the inheritable nature of temperament. Psychological studies suggest pretty consistently that temperament drives ideology (such as whether you’re … Continue reading

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Who Are The Tea Partyers, What Are They Achieving, And Do They Have Staying Power?

In a recent interview with Josh Eidelson at Salon, Harvard sociologist Theda Skocpol characterizes Tea Party membership based on her research: [A]pproximately half of all Republican-identifiers who think of themselves as Tea Partyers are a very conservative-minded old group of … Continue reading

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Fossilized Republican Found in Georgia?

Responding to the discovery in the Republic of Georgia of a 1.8-million-year-old Homo erectus skull (possessing about one-third the volume of the average human skull), a wag from Seattle under the moniker of “1west,” commenting this morning in the thread … Continue reading

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Human Beings are “Purpose Maximizers, Not Profit Maximizers”

Autonomy, mastery, and meaning are bigger motivators than money. Author Dan Pink explains:

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How Republican Debt Default Hostage-Taking Ends (For Now)

If you’re worried that the federal government will default on its debt Thursday, worry no further (if Brian Beutler, writing in Salon this morning, received good intelligence): Boehner communicated to Reid, a top aide told me, that he’d send the Senate … Continue reading

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Could the Debt Default Crisis Turn into Our Reichstag Fire?

Something Chris Hedges wrote back in August of 2010 about our American anti-Enlightenment right (a.k.a the Tea Party) is haunting me a bit this week: The next catastrophic attack, or the next economic meltdown, could be our Reichstag fire. It could … Continue reading

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Flamboyant

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Are You My Missing Piece?

Steven Johnson on why the Internet-connected world may be a historic boon to human creativity and collective intelligence.

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Is Obamacare a Train Wreck?

In today’s NYT is an article on the initial failure of the Obamacare website’s functioning (healthcare.gov) that nevertheless contains a ray of hope: Administration officials have said there is plenty of time to resolve the [portal] problems before the mid-December … Continue reading

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Are Obamacare Exchanges Failing?

There’s no doubt that the Obamacare exchange websites have had a terrible initial roll-out, but this is different from describing the Obamacare exchanges as a failure, at least based on this portion of an AP story that just came out … Continue reading

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Debt Default Crisis: What Republicans Have Achieved So Far

Four big things, the first of which comes from The Washington Post: Financial experts much prefer a longer-term extension of the debt ceiling, but even a brief extension would ease some of the turmoil that has been brewing on Wall Street. … Continue reading

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Brain of Destruction: The NFL and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)

The Frontline teaser: ___________ Link to the full documentary: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365093675/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=pbsofficial&utm_campaign=fron_covefullprogram

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Not So Fast!

Interesting push-back and complexifying of the “it’s all in your genes” meme: __________ And here’s the full (eccentric) documentary of which the above clip is a part (no, I haven’t watched it yet and don’t know anything about it):

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Get Loose: When’s the Last Time You Really Opened Out Your Body?

Research suggests that opening out the body with postures reminiscent of Blake’s Vitruvian man increases esteem, confidence in speaking, and risk-taking. Two ways to open your body are to do some very particular yoga postures or dance. In the below video, Daft Punk … Continue reading

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